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Our family has been blessed with four beautiful babies. Our twin boys, Rhys and Bentley, were born in July 2008 at 23w5d gestation. Bentley developed an infection in the womb and was only with us for 13 hours after birth. Rhys spent five and a half long months in the NICU before coming home and he works very hard to continue to beat the odds.

Zoe Elizabeth was born in March 2010 at 36 weeks gestation. After 16 weeks of modified bedrest we were thrilled she was born healthy with no complications. She is full of drama and keeps us on our toes!

Our latest addition was a huge surprise - completely unexpected, but very much wanted. Beckett was born in July 2011 at 36.5 weeks gestation. His arrival marked three children in the house under three years of age. It's sure to be interesting around here!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

more on March of Dimes

It keeps getting better! A friend pointed out this article on MOD's website today. Pay special attention to the "Who pays for the treatment?" question and their response. It can be expensive. Really?! Three days ago you wrote a mildly worded letter to KV expressing concern over the price increase and now you are publishing a write-up encouraging women to ask their doctors about it even though "it's expensive"??

And though it is nothing new, the eligibility requirements for who could benefit from the drug make me angry. I had a premature delivery while carrying multiples, but my insurance company approved the drug for my second pregnancy even though according to these guidelines I wouldn't benefit. The drug is supposedly not effective when pregnant with more than one child, as I guess it is assumed that women carrying multiples go into premature labor more frequently and with less provocation than with a singleton. If my OB had gone by those guidelines he would have assumed my first delivery was a fluke and done nothing preventative with Zoe. I had contractions with Zoe from about 20 weeks on, while on 17P and a terb pump. I can not say how much either of the drugs contributed to helping me make it to 36 weeks, but I would not have been willing to chance it. My concern is that insurance companies who are willing to pay for the drug will now use these guidelines more strictly to determine whose treatment they'll cover, and many women will miss out.

I have been angry with MOD over this whole thing, but I am done with them now. Other than posting on their facebook page and website they've made no public announcement taking a stand against this issue, and now the publishing of this article (which to me condones KV's behavior) has pushed me over the edge.

I emailed my local newstation about this issue and I got an email back today. They are doing a story on it and want to feature our family. This is a good chance to get the story out. Please let me know anything that you find that would be beneficial to mention. I want to have all of my facts straight. This terrifies me because I would technically not meet the criteria either since it happened with twins. Thanks for all of your info on this so far!